CinemaTechnic | Expert Cine Lens Repair and Maintenance Service
©2025 Jorge Diaz-Amador
Updated 2025-08-10
IMPORTANT: We are no longer performing Cine Lens Service. Please see this page for factory level Cine Lens service tools we are selling.
Optical lens testing equipment is still offered with very limited availability. Support for Richter Cine Equipment products has ended, but we have a few items remaining.
This page will be maintained as a testament to over 25 years in the professional cine equipment industry. We wish to thank all the clients that have supported us over the years!
Professional Cine Lens Service:
CinemaTechnic offers factory trained and authorized repair and maintenance service for professional cine lenses manufactured by Angenieux, ARRI, Canon (CN-E lenses only), Cooke Optics, Leica (CW Sonderoptic), P+S Technik and Zeiss (WEST German cine lenses branded Carl Zeiss or ARRI/Zeiss) and Tokina.
Other manufacturer’s lenses or discontinued lenses may be supported on a limited basis. Examples include vintage Angenieux, Cooke and West German Zeiss lenses.
What we do NOT service:
- Any lenses manufactured in the former Soviet Bloc of countries, including but not limited to the Soviet Union, East Germany. Brands include LOMO, Zenit, Carl Zeiss Jena.
- Still-camera lenses, (SLR or rangefinder) including Zeiss ZE, ZF, etc (Zeiss exception is due to spare parts unavailability). We may be able to fit focus gears to these lenses but no internal service is possible.
- Russian-made (post-Soviet) lenses such as Elite, Illumina, LOMO
- RED Digital Cinema lenses
- Projection lenses or anamorphic adapters
- Any autofocus lens
- Any plastic-bodied lens
- Any lens built into a camera
We cannot provide any recommendations for service of the above lenses.
Service Policies:
We do not provide quotes for lens service. All lens service is by estimate only. We cannot estimate service cost without examining the lens in person.
- Labor rate is $188.- per hour
- We can only service lenses made after 1985, although there is no guarantee that we can service any lens that is no longer supported by the manufacturer.
Minimum Labor Charges and Additional Policies:
- 1.0 hour for lenses currently supported by manufacturer
- 1.5 hour for unsupported lenses (where manufacturer has discontinued parts and tech support)
- The minimum labor charge includes the written estimate. If you choose not to have the lens serviced you are responsible for the minimum labor charge. In some cases the minimum labor time will be all that is needed to do the service.
- Any parts needed for the repair must be pre-paid before the repair work is begun. Parts are non-returnable unless there is an error on our part or the part of the manufacturer (this is very rare).
Shipping and handling are at additional cost:
- We will ship using your shipping account, but a handling fee is charged for proper safe packing of your equipment for the return shipment.
- Do not send any equipment to us without informing us first and getting approval. Unsolicited shipments will be held for a 1 hour minimum labor charge plus shipping and handling. If this is not paid the item becomes our property.
- Taxes: There is no service tax. No sales tax or parts for shipments. Use taxes and customs fees are the responsibility of the recipient.
- Please send a message on the contact form for any further questions.
CinemaTechnic Lens Service Capabilities:
CinemaTechnic is equipped with all the proper tools to properly service cine lenses, including the special lens manufacturer’s service tools and lubricants, a laminar flow clean-air enclosure with static control for assembly.
A Moeller-Wedel collimator and P+S Technik/Kish Optics lens test projector for calibration. We also have custom-designed tools and fixtures to aid in our work. The most common replacement parts like shims, fasteners and cam followers are kept in stock.
New replacement parts are available for most lenses made within the last 20 years. We can also recondition lens elements that have suffered glass scratches or abraded anti-reflective coatings. This service is particularly important for older series lenses when new replacement lens elements are not available from Zeiss (see below for a list of discontinued parts).
Labor rate for standard service is $188.- per hour with a one-hour minimum service. Standard service usually requires a 3 business day minimum time in shop if replacement parts beyond stock-on-hand are not needed.
Service training on Zeiss DigiPrime
Replacement Parts:
The most common small replacement parts (for example: focus adjustment shims, screws, cam followers) as well as manufacturer approved lubricants and adhesives are kept in stock.
Other needed replacement parts are sourced directly from the lens manufacturers and must be prepaid. If replacement parts are needed, expect a minimum delay of 10 days for parts since all of the supported manufacturers are outside the U.S., and shipping/customs delays are common. Some manufacturers are maintaining parts stock in the U.S. (Canon USA and Cooke for example) so the delay may be less for some lenses.
Please keep in mind that repair parts for many older lenses are in short supply. Generally if your lenses are more than 20 years old, you should expect difficulty in sourcing spare parts. Parts for lenses 30 or more years old are generally unavailable from the manufacturer.
New replacement parts are no longer available for the following lenses:
Angenieux: All pre-Optimo series lenses
Canon: K35 primes and zoom, Super 16 format zooms.
Cooke: Original Panchro, Speed Panchro, 9-50mm, 10.4-60mm, 20-100mm, 25-250mm Mk. I, Mk. II.
Carl Zeiss: Standard Primes f2 (all versions), Super Speed/High Speed f1.2 (all versions), Vario-Sonnar 10-100 and 11-110 (all versions), Master Zoom
If you need service for a lens for which parts are discontinued and you need a part, we will do our best to locate the needed parts for you. There is a research fee for finding discontinued parts.
New replacement parts are charged as an additional cost. Expedited service offers a guaranteed delivery date, which will be mutually agreed upon between us, and you will be charged for the expedited shipping of replacement parts. Shipping costs for parts may also be incurred for discontinued lens parts.
After Service Support:
All CinemaTechnic lens repairs will be covered by a 6 month limited service agreement for optical repairs. All warranty repairs need to be scheduled at least 5 business days in advance. You will be responsible for shipping to and from us. Also, you will be entitled to free focus checks during this period, provided you handle getting your lens to/from our shop. We require that you contact us in advance to schedule a free check of your lenses. We recommend doing this before the start of any major project.
Zeiss Master Prime 14mm Aspherical Front Element
Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 25mm cut-away
Repair of Discontinued Lens Elements:
In some cases, we can have scratched lens elements polished and re-coated if new lens elements are not available. Please be aware that there is always considerable turn around time (several weeks) for lens element re-coating.
This service is competitively priced for smaller single lens elements. For large elements and especially cemented doublets, it only makes sense if replacement elements are unavailable and the lens is valuable.
Service for Unusual, Rare or Vintage Cine Lenses
CinemaTechnic may service lenses that are difficult to find service for. Please contact us via email to determine wether we can service your lens.
Focus problems can be caused by one or a combination these causes:
- The back or front focus of the lens is not set for optimum focus. Even using collimators can result in incorrect back focus if the instrument is not properly calibrated, or is not properly used.
- The flange focal distance (FFD) of the camera is not set properly. This can be difficult to set accurately on digital cinema cameras. The best method for digital cinema cameras is to use a special test lens on an autocollimator. Film cameras can be checked with specialized gages. On film cameras, a slight negative tolerance must be maintained since the film will never sit perfectly flat in the aperture.
- On film cameras, if the ground glass (or fiber optic viewing screen) is not set to match the film focus. This is a very critical adjustment that is done using a method similar to the one described above for setting FFD on digital cine cameras.
- If your lenses do not “come up on the marks” after we have adjusted the back focus, your camera needs to be checked for proper FFD setting. We can perform this service.
All text and photos ©2007-2025 CinemaTechnic and Jorge Diaz-Amador. All text, images and other content on this site are original copyrighted works. CinemaTechnic and Jorge Diaz-Amador own exclusive rights to this content under the United States Copyright Act of 1976.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this website’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
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